The human ear and brain do not respond to increases in acoustic energy in a linear fashion - they respond in a logarithmic fashion. That's why "audio taper" potentiometers were invented.
It's really good to see you bring up these things. Because in the end, it really comes down to how it feels for one to use the pedal and I'd bet that a lot of musicians can't place exactly why they like one over the other. You can make pretty much the exact same swells with either one, but it is a markant difference in limb-hardware interaction. Makes it easier to pinpoint what you want out of an audio pedal when you know the difference between the way they function.
I have used an Ernie Ball volume pedal (250k) for decades. It has a 'micro taper switch' which lets you toggle between the two options. Have had to replace the 'string' inside a couple of times, and the pot once. Built like a tank.
An interesting informative video! Thanks for the tip, Bill - you learn something new every day. I've been playing the guitar since the 1970s, and I didn't know there were two types of volume pedal taper. I have a Jim Dunlop pedal from the stone age and a Morely, and I have no idea whether they are linear or audio .. they both sound great to my ageing ears, though .. :-)
Expert clarification and advice. I've seen conflicting views on the Morleys. Some even questioned their design. But turns out it's a preference thing. A feel thing. Thank you for the enlightenment.
Great video about one of the most important tools for ambient guitarists. I have power wah volume from morley an use it a bit different. My Board has two channels and a splitter at the very beginning of the signal pass. One path is pure analog, dirty an evil (compression, kill switch, analog delay, fuzz, amp). The other channel is the good one. (volume pedal, delay, reverb, Tremolo, Amp). I think about this channel as tank that stores notes as drones in the reverb and/or delay. With the volume pedal I chose the notes that will be stored. This is very important to me, because what i do not like about much ambient music is the lack of bended and blue notes and small intervalls like minor seconds. This is understandable because in most ambient setups every note out of tune is repeated again and again and poisons the whole drone. For that reason I use my volume pedal to chose the non poisonous and suited notes for my drones, whereas i can also play minor seconds and other spucy stuff without danger. ;-)
For my “volume pedal”, I use a Mission Engineering EP-25K expression pedal into a Strymon Compadre. Although the expression pedal itself has a linear sweep, the Compadre maps this internally to an audio sweep (which I prefer). Just thought that might be useful info for anyone else considering this approach.
That's awesome. I wasn't aware!!! I used volume pedal on my board every time. It's part of my guitar now. Since I cannot use my right picking hand due to partial paralyzed half of pinky to middle finger ulna slice in 90.
Very helpful! I'm curious if you ever use buffered volume pedal arrangements to avoid any subtle signal loss associated with magnetic pickups or cable length.
Thanks for the tip. I think my current patches have Audio based on what I saw here. Will have to see if my multi peddle offers Linear, that seems more of the type I want.
I dont know whether vol pot of my cheap guitar is audio or linear taper but I know different guitar comes with pot with different taper and I think that really contributes to it, people often talk about "cleaning up" with vol. pot but something like linear (which probably is in my guitar?), it's very hard to do because vol. change is not that subtle. there's absolutely no sound when vol is 1 to 3 or 4 and then a lot of sound comes on, and virutally from 8-10 there's not much difference.
That sounds like a linear pot to me. I actually have installed linear volume pots on a couple of my guitars to allow for better (IMO) volume swells just using the knob.
@@chordsoforion right, when I do swell it's actually really useful but whenever I try this whole "cleaning up distorted sound by turning down" thing, it's either really distorted, basically same as 10 even if it's turned down to 7 or so, or noticeably quiet, it's kind of disappointing if you expect the classic rock type nice clear but compressed type of sound when turning down
All of these pedals have a volume control type of potentiometer and depending on their resistance or, impedance once considered in a circuit, will determine how they react. That's why there is a difference in how they react in different parts of your signal chain. Try using a pedal before an effect chain (after your guitar) and see how it differs from when you use it after the effect. Likewise a 250 ohm pot will be vastly different from a 1,000 ohm pot, a totally different sweep characteristic depending on the impedance of the circuit. Even identical pedals may act differently if used in a different part of the circuit. While I do not disagree with the findings on your example (0:34), understand that this is a cleverly disguised marketing ploy to explain their dominance of impedance matching. Nice video by the way, as always.
I think your points are very good, but want to point out that neither of the Morley pedals have potentiometers (one reason I like them). They have active buffered "electro-optical" circuits. A change in resistance is created by the pedal moving a shutter between 2 LEDs to create different swells characteristics. You can actually adjust the swell by slightly moving the LEDs. Here's the complete PDF that I referenced in the vid: www.morleyproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ttvolumeadjust.pdf
@@chordsoforion Well thank you for the clarification, a lot has changed since my high school days, a half century ago. I should have known that someone has designed a better mouse trap. Love your videos and keep up the good work.
@@chordsoforion My suggestion is to start by just plugging you guitar into both the Morley and the Lehle volume pedals (separately) without any other pedals in the chain and record a bit of guitar directly to your audio interface with only the single volume pedal between your guitar and the audio interface. You'll notice the difference in your guitar tone going through the Lehle pedal. Then as you add delays or reverbs or other pedals down the line, the Lehle volume pedal will further prove it's worth. It has a way of adding a welcome degree of clarity to the pure guitar signal that makes the ambient effects that follow it, sound better. More dimension and nuance. Using the additional features of the Lehle pedal, it is also possible to achieve further improvement in the guitar's tone depending on which instrument you're using and what the output impendence of the pickups is like. The Lehle Volume S is also a USB-C expression pedal, so you can plug it into your computer and use it to control any effects plugins or instruments that you're using in your DAW. Extremely handy. Regarding audio taper, the curve of the Lehle will feel a lot more mellow compared to the Morley. The Morley volume pedals are best at emulating the very quick transition from silence to full volume, like the taper of the volume pot on a guitar. Personally, I find the more gradual and gentle rise in amplitude to be far more emotional feeling on a musical level. Of course, this is a very personal thing, and comes down to musical taste. I would suggest giving yourself at least a month to get used to the Lehle. It won't do the rapid zero to a hundred in a split second thing that the Little Alligator does, but it will provide a far more emotional sounding swell, if you are using ambient effects after it that have longer decay times. It will give you a greater range of expression and that's what makes it life changing. A swell that rises gently and then in the last quarter of it's travel ramps up with more intensity is a lot more emotional sounding. This is where the Lehle pedal excels. Definitely keep your Morley Little Alligator for early Fripp and Van Halen "Cathedral" style analog volume pot rapid succession swells. I think you'll really enjoy the added versatility of the Lehle volume pedal and especially the greater range of swell shapes it makes possible. Looking forward to hearing your reaction to it!
Why is the linear taper faster? The audio taper has practically a parabolic curve so suddenly the volume is shooting up, rather than a 1-1 increase with the rotation of the pedal... what am I missing? I have a morley 20/20 with an audio taper and there isn't anything slow or gradual about it. Honestly I don't find it very useful for creating a swell, it feels impossible to be subtle with it.
The linear taper is faster in the earlier part of the swell because of the constant increase in volume. Take a peek at the chart at 0:42. At the mid point of the swell, the linear taper is far above the audio. The means that the start of the swell increases a lot faster for linear as you use it. Since you have a 20/20, the swell characteristic is actually adjustable. You might want to experiment a bit to see if you can get the swell of your pedal more to your liking: www.morleyproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ttvolumeadjust.pdf
The Nintendo policy is, I can't release my source code. Screw Kubla Khan, Both methods in one pedal with controllable parameters is as simple as it gets in the eyes of the chip makers.
1:54 I think you meant to say "The linear taper, the little alligator" Also, I've always wondered why pedal steel volume pedals like the Goodrich line are so expensive.
What 'volume'? That change in dynamics constitutes less than a bloom! All you are really doing is cutting of a greater or lesser portion of the attack. Why do guitarist not set up volume pedals with a minimum volume such as corresponds to the minimum threshold of an acoustic instrument, below which point it doesn't speak? They are not using it as a volume pedal, but as an envelope filter to synthesize legato. Besides, that's a lot of travel, in either pedal, with no musical effect! Is that really the best technology can do? Regardless of which pedal you are using, the mechanism of the pedal seems inadequate to a slow and steady increase in volume such as may be invited and invented by a singer, wind, or string player. Its being employed as an actuator or trigger rather than a progressive pot. Better to use and auto swell.
The human ear and brain do not respond to increases in acoustic energy in a linear fashion - they respond in a logarithmic fashion. That's why "audio taper" potentiometers were invented.
It's really good to see you bring up these things. Because in the end, it really comes down to how it feels for one to use the pedal and I'd bet that a lot of musicians can't place exactly why they like one over the other. You can make pretty much the exact same swells with either one, but it is a markant difference in limb-hardware interaction. Makes it easier to pinpoint what you want out of an audio pedal when you know the difference between the way they function.
I have used an Ernie Ball volume pedal (250k) for decades. It has a 'micro taper switch' which lets you toggle between the two options. Have had to replace the 'string' inside a couple of times, and the pot once. Built like a tank.
I think my string is gone. Any recommendations
Replacing that string can be a legit PITA tho.
An interesting informative video! Thanks for the tip, Bill - you learn something new every day. I've been playing the guitar since the 1970s, and I didn't know there were two types of volume pedal taper. I have a Jim Dunlop pedal from the stone age and a Morely, and I have no idea whether they are linear or audio .. they both sound great to my ageing ears, though .. :-)
This is an excellent nuance to highlight. It doesn't do much, but there is an aural intrigue that can make your tunes more interesting. Thanks Bill!
Expert clarification and advice. I've seen conflicting views on the Morleys. Some even questioned their design. But turns out it's a preference thing. A feel thing. Thank you for the enlightenment.
Definitely a feel and preference thing. If you prefered a particular response, you have to compensate the way you manipulate the pedal.
Great info! Love the way your shoes compliment the carpet. With linear it sounded more organic. It 'talks' better. Thanks
Yeah, like a chart or something visual.
Great video about one of the most important tools for ambient guitarists. I have power wah volume from morley an use it a bit different. My Board has two channels and a splitter at the very beginning of the signal pass. One path is pure analog, dirty an evil (compression, kill switch, analog delay, fuzz, amp). The other channel is the good one. (volume pedal, delay, reverb, Tremolo, Amp). I think about this channel as tank that stores notes as drones in the reverb and/or delay. With the volume pedal I chose the notes that will be stored. This is very important to me, because what i do not like about much ambient music is the lack of bended and blue notes and small intervalls like minor seconds. This is understandable because in most ambient setups every note out of tune is repeated again and again and poisons the whole drone. For that reason I use my volume pedal to chose the non poisonous and suited notes for my drones, whereas i can also play minor seconds and other spucy stuff without danger. ;-)
For my “volume pedal”, I use a Mission Engineering EP-25K expression pedal into a Strymon Compadre. Although the expression pedal itself has a linear sweep, the Compadre maps this internally to an audio sweep (which I prefer). Just thought that might be useful info for anyone else considering this approach.
I have tried that on my Compadre. Really nice feature!
I bought the Little Alligator after watching your videos some time ago. Now I know why I like it over ones I've tried before. Great video!
It would be great to have manufacturers post their pedal's volume taper. I can wish, right?
That's awesome. I wasn't aware!!! I used volume pedal on my board every time. It's part of my guitar now. Since I cannot use my right picking hand due to partial paralyzed half of pinky to middle finger ulna slice in 90.
I really like a reverse logarithmic taper on my volume pedal. It comes up really fast at the heel position then slows down at the toe.
Very helpful! I'm curious if you ever use buffered volume pedal arrangements to avoid any subtle signal loss associated with magnetic pickups or cable length.
Wonderful explanation!!! Thanks for this video, straight to the point. I ended up settling for Linear on my Fractal AX-8.
Good to hear this was useful for you!
Great Vid Bill! I'm going to check My Ampero MP-100 to see if it has the trail option! Thanks Brutha!
Fyi the log taper pots are two linear slopes spliced together to approximate the log curve.
Thanks for the tip. I think my current patches have Audio based on what I saw here. Will have to see if my multi peddle offers Linear, that seems more of the type I want.
Very cool Bill, thanks for sharing.
Great explanation Bill!
Boss GT-1000 will let you adjust the pedal taper as well!
love the ability of ehx attack/decay to choose from 3 different types of swell for each attack and decay 😎
Essentially a different pots - audio (logarithmic) and linear - same can happen in the volume pot on a guitar.
Swell video!
I dont know whether vol pot of my cheap guitar is audio or linear taper but I know different guitar comes with pot with different taper and I think that really contributes to it, people often talk about "cleaning up" with vol. pot but something like linear (which probably is in my guitar?), it's very hard to do because vol. change is not that subtle. there's absolutely no sound when vol is 1 to 3 or 4 and then a lot of sound comes on, and virutally from 8-10 there's not much difference.
That sounds like a linear pot to me. I actually have installed linear volume pots on a couple of my guitars to allow for better (IMO) volume swells just using the knob.
@@chordsoforion right, when I do swell it's actually really useful but whenever I try this whole "cleaning up distorted sound by turning down" thing, it's either really distorted, basically same as 10 even if it's turned down to 7 or so, or noticeably quiet, it's kind of disappointing if you expect the classic rock type nice clear but compressed type of sound when turning down
All of these pedals have a volume control type of potentiometer and depending on their resistance or, impedance once considered in a circuit, will determine how they react. That's why there is a difference in how they react in different parts of your signal chain. Try using a pedal before an effect chain (after your guitar) and see how it differs from when you use it after the effect. Likewise a 250 ohm pot will be vastly different from a 1,000 ohm pot, a totally different sweep characteristic depending on the impedance of the circuit. Even identical pedals may act differently if used in a different part of the circuit. While I do not disagree with the findings on your example (0:34), understand that this is a cleverly disguised marketing ploy to explain their dominance of impedance matching. Nice video by the way, as always.
I think your points are very good, but want to point out that neither of the Morley pedals have potentiometers (one reason I like them). They have active buffered "electro-optical" circuits. A change in resistance is created by the pedal moving a shutter between 2 LEDs to create different swells characteristics. You can actually adjust the swell by slightly moving the LEDs. Here's the complete PDF that I referenced in the vid: www.morleyproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ttvolumeadjust.pdf
@@chordsoforion Well thank you for the clarification, a lot has changed since my high school days, a half century ago. I should have known that someone has designed a better mouse trap. Love your videos and keep up the good work.
Oh, I hear you on the half-century thing. I am not too far from my 50 year high school graduation date! :-)
This is why I bought a little alligator after I first found your channel a little over a year ago.
Now I'm looking for all in one (switchable).
Was considering a volume pedal but confused by impedance and buffers, if you want another video idea.
Have you had a chance to try out the Lehle Mono Volume S, volume & expression pedal Bill? I think you might find it life changing.
OK Bob - I just ordered one and am prepared to have my life changed. :-)
@@chordsoforion My suggestion is to start by just plugging you guitar into both the Morley and the Lehle volume pedals (separately) without any other pedals in the chain and record a bit of guitar directly to your audio interface with only the single volume pedal between your guitar and the audio interface. You'll notice the difference in your guitar tone going through the Lehle pedal. Then as you add delays or reverbs or other pedals down the line, the Lehle volume pedal will further prove it's worth. It has a way of adding a welcome degree of clarity to the pure guitar signal that makes the ambient effects that follow it, sound better. More dimension and nuance. Using the additional features of the Lehle pedal, it is also possible to achieve further improvement in the guitar's tone depending on which instrument you're using and what the output impendence of the pickups is like.
The Lehle Volume S is also a USB-C expression pedal, so you can plug it into your computer and use it to control any effects plugins or instruments that you're using in your DAW. Extremely handy.
Regarding audio taper, the curve of the Lehle will feel a lot more mellow compared to the Morley. The Morley volume pedals are best at emulating the very quick transition from silence to full volume, like the taper of the volume pot on a guitar. Personally, I find the more gradual and gentle rise in amplitude to be far more emotional feeling on a musical level.
Of course, this is a very personal thing, and comes down to musical taste. I would suggest giving yourself at least a month to get used to the Lehle. It won't do the rapid zero to a hundred in a split second thing that the Little Alligator does, but it will provide a far more emotional sounding swell, if you are using ambient effects after it that have longer decay times. It will give you a greater range of expression and that's what makes it life changing.
A swell that rises gently and then in the last quarter of it's travel ramps up with more intensity is a lot more emotional sounding. This is where the Lehle pedal excels. Definitely keep your Morley Little Alligator for early Fripp and Van Halen "Cathedral" style analog volume pot rapid succession swells. I think you'll really enjoy the added versatility of the Lehle volume pedal and especially the greater range of swell shapes it makes possible.
Looking forward to hearing your reaction to it!
I definitely like the Audio taper.
It probably comes down to which ever pedal you get used to as to how they sound, personally i like the Linear one
That's a very good point!
Why is the linear taper faster? The audio taper has practically a parabolic curve so suddenly the volume is shooting up, rather than a 1-1 increase with the rotation of the pedal... what am I missing? I have a morley 20/20 with an audio taper and there isn't anything slow or gradual about it. Honestly I don't find it very useful for creating a swell, it feels impossible to be subtle with it.
The linear taper is faster in the earlier part of the swell because of the constant increase in volume. Take a peek at the chart at 0:42. At the mid point of the swell, the linear taper is far above the audio. The means that the start of the swell increases a lot faster for linear as you use it. Since you have a 20/20, the swell characteristic is actually adjustable. You might want to experiment a bit to see if you can get the swell of your pedal more to your liking: www.morleyproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ttvolumeadjust.pdf
@@chordsoforion thank you!
Linear taper FTW!
Review Very good, 👍☺️🎉
I always thought the little alligator swell was too quick.
Now you know why! :-) But seriously, but the preference is very personal. I love the quick sweep of the Little Alligator, but get why others may not.
The quick swells definitely have their place too!
I like and use linear. 😎
The Nintendo policy is, I can't release my source code.
Screw Kubla Khan, Both methods in one pedal with controllable parameters is as simple as it gets in the eyes of the chip makers.
What do you mean "nobody talks about"? The first thing in any discussion about volume pedals is taper followed by tone suck.
1:54 I think you meant to say "The linear taper, the little alligator" Also, I've always wondered why pedal steel volume pedals like the Goodrich line are so expensive.
Ag! You are right - I missed that flub in the edit.
What 'volume'? That change in dynamics constitutes less than a bloom! All you are really doing is cutting of a greater or lesser portion of the attack. Why do guitarist not set up volume pedals with a minimum volume such as corresponds to the minimum threshold of an acoustic instrument, below which point it doesn't speak? They are not using it as a volume pedal, but as an envelope filter to synthesize legato.
Besides, that's a lot of travel, in either pedal, with no musical effect! Is that really the best technology can do? Regardless of which pedal you are using, the mechanism of the pedal seems inadequate to a slow and steady increase in volume such as may be invited and invented by a singer, wind, or string player. Its being employed as an actuator or trigger rather than a progressive pot. Better to use and auto swell.